Shadowed Past
by The Smiling Shadow
Summary: There is a person out there who knows exactly how Logan feels. She watched everything. She saw these people turn him from a man to an animal. She understands, being a mutant herself. Now she searches for him. Together they will find out his past.
1. My First Memory

Born From The Shadows  
  
He is my first memory, my earliest memory. I can remember everything about him. His face, his hair, his eyes. . . His name, Logan. I will never forget him. Or what he did for me. What he sacrificed for me. I can't remember anything before him. I was still young, seventeen I think, and I can't remember those first seventeen years of my life. They are hidden in the shadows, and I was born from them. He is where my memories begin. His face. He is my first memory.  
  
I was unique for my time. Unique even for a mutant. I was one of kind back then. For you see, I have wings. My wings can spread out to about twenty ft. from wing tip to wing tip. They are not like a bird's or an Angel's. They are more of a devil's, more like bat wings. They are black and thin, but strong nonetheless. I have horns too. They are also black, but are skinny and flimsy. They are long, and spread to my back. I even have claws on my fingers. But nothing compared to what my other mutation is. I am darkness. I am shadows. I can control darkness. I can literally. . . Become a shadow, and sink into the floor. Hide in the darkness. I suppose that is why they took me away. . .  
  
I woke up in a tank on the side of a wall in. . . some kind of lab. My arms and legs were chained to the wall. My wings were spread wide, with two poles piercing through them, to keep there. The tank was full of this green liquid. I had. . . tubes down my throat to keep me breathing. I was too tired to panic. . . Too tired to realize what was really happening to me. Too weak to fight. . . I knew whatever they were doing to me. . . Why they had taken me, imprisoned me, I knew it was wrong, and I knew they were hurting me. I knew I should of screamed, I should of fought, but I couldn't. . . I was too tired. . . too weak. . .  
  
I looked up, and there he was. Logan. A man name William Stryker walked beside him, and they strolled around the lab.  
  
"So are you ready for this, Logan?" William asked.  
  
"I'm not gonna become like this am I?" Logan asked pointing at me.  
  
"Oh no, not at all."  
  
"Wait, she's only a kid in there."  
  
"Yes, but there was no other way to handle her, see those claws, those wings. Very dangerous mutant, this one. Very aggressive."  
  
Logan walked away from Stryker, he came closer to me. He looked up at me, and I could see his face. My vision blurred in the tank, but I could still see he was scared. Still see the fear in that young man's face, something I never saw again.  
  
"Logan?"  
  
Logan took a moment before looking away from me. He turned to William again.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"You ready?" William asked.  
  
"Yeah. . ."  
  
Logan then turned his back on me, walking back to Stryker. I don't know what happened. When Logan came up to me, I felt stronger. I lifted my head, and even tried to move my arms, but nothing. . . Then he turned away from me. He went into another room with William, and left me alone with these people with guns and in white suits. I can't really remember the details. . . But I could feel myself just getting tired all of the sudden. And darkness covered my vision. The room became black, and I fell asleep for days.  
  
I woke up with the tubes still down my throat. My wings still pierced down, along with my legs and arms. I was still too tired. . . I opened my eyes slowly. But heard the sounds of screams before I could see clearly. . . The screaming wouldn't stop, not for a long time anyway. I shot up my head, to see the cause for the screaming. I saw him. . . Blood all over his body. He was screaming, and standing out of a tank in the middle of the lab. He started shaking, as people came closer to him. They fired electric guns at him, each making him scream even louder. Even inside that tank, the noise hurt my ears.  
  
"Don't hurt him! I don't want him hurt!" It was William.  
  
They fired their guns at the man named Logan. He screamed from his agony, and these. . . bone claws came from his hands. . . And then he made his last stand, he growled to the sky, and fell back into the tank, unconscious.  
  
The months that came to be, I watched as they slowly turned that man into an animal. The man that seemed to look at me with wonder in his eyes, now only had blood in them. They took the man away, and replaced him with an animal, a careless beast, only meant to kill. Only killing was on that thing's mind. They stuck needles in him, cutting him, turning the green liquid in the tank to red. Everyday, everyday the man named Logan became no more. William Stryker had lied to the man, and now he was no more. Sometimes Stryker would come to my tank. He grinned this evil way, and look up at me. He'd smiled and look at Logan, telling me that was my fate. And I knew it too. They did things to me. Things I can't remember anymore. Something with taking my blood, mixing it with someone else's. I wasn't enough for William. I didn't have that healing factor his other mutants did. I think they tried to change that. I can remember only once when they tried doing that. They stuck something in my arm, the next thing I knew I was in a tank full of blood. . . I don't know who's blood either.  
  
Then the day came. When the man was no more. The day they took Logan's bones away from him. They crafted them into metal, into Adamantium. I can remember, seeing what looked like Logan's dead body in that tank. He never moved, they never let him. They put these plugs on him, sending electrical shocks through his body. Over and over again they did this, hurting him, making the body jolt. Until he screamed, and the bone claws came out metal. I could see it. It hurt him, taking out those claws, but they wouldn't stop. They kept electrifying him until, they were fully out, until he screamed, and blood came from his hands. All I could do was watch.  
  
That night, William paid us a visit. I didn't sleep that much anymore. I didn't want to. I didn't want to fall asleep, and not see what they were doing to me. William came walking down the stairs, making echoes as he went down. He pulled down an X-ray, and stared at it as he stood beside Logan's tank.  
  
"You're one of kind, Logan." William said. "One of a kind."  
  
William started to circle the tank.  
  
"You're almost a hundred aren't you, Logan? Something like that. It's a miracle you've survived this long, no one else has."  
  
He looked up at me.  
  
"Of course, except for you, darling."  
  
He laughed at me.  
  
"Oh Logan, my friend. James Howlett. That's your real name, right? Of course you don't remember. You can't remember even yourself now. James Howlett, second son of John and Elizabeth Howlett. But those names won't mean anything to you anymore. James Howlett, Logan, now Wolverine or Weapon X."  
  
William put his hand in Logan's tank. Logan didn't move, still not even awake.  
  
"You've lived a life, Logan. You've been a great friend, a great man. But mutants aren't meant to be men. . . They are animals! And that is what you are. That is what you'll always be, I'll make sure of it."  
  
William punched his hand through the water, and stormed off towards the door. But then he stopped, looking at me.  
  
"And you, you are even worse."  
  
Then William left. And I was alone again. Alone with Logan.  
  
Sometimes I felt like dying. I wish I could have killed myself. The things I had seen, I was still young, I should have never seen them. The blood became too much. I missed the screams of Logan. They meant he was still there, still fighting, but he never screamed anymore. It made me loose hope that I'd ever get out. To see the sun. To fly in its warmth. Spread my wings again. But I had no memory of such things. My entire life up to that point was in that tank, watching Logan. But I never could die. That's why they had that tube down my throat, to keep me living. Keep me breathing, stop me from just stopping. They wanted me alive. They wanted me to become a weapon. Just like Logan.  
  
They took him out once. They actually took Logan out of the tank, they let him loose, they made him kill. They let him outside, with wolves. Everyone watched on the screen as he killed the wolves with his claws and bear hands. He killed those wolves without even flinching, without even a thought of stopping. He was a weapon. He was a killer. They took a kind man, they lied to him, hurt him, killed him, and kept him alive. They kept him alive with tubes down his throat, and they made him watch as he became an animal. There was blood on his claws when the dumped him back in the tank.  
  
William stood over the tank, smiling at his work. He had done it. He had created the perfect weapon, one that could not die, one that could not think for itself, one that would take orders. He looked over at me.  
  
"You're next, darling." He said.  
  
No! No! They couldn't do that! I won't let them! They can't do that to me! I struggled. My winds flapped, and my hands shook. I tried freeing myself. I tried. I really did. But William only laughed at my attempts.  
  
I gave up. I stopped trying. There was nothing I could do. Nothing I could say. I was just a mutant with no past, and no future. I looked over at Logan. He was my fate. I'd be just like that. I stopped and I looked down. I prepared for the worst.  
  
Then there was screaming. Out from the tank, like the rising Phoenix, Logan lived. He jumped out of the tank, his metal claws extended. He screamed, he fought. He sliced the monsters that had done this to him. Everyone who hurt him died. He was covered in his blood screamed in the pain. He ran around in his bare skin, cutting everything in site. Hopefully he got William, but I am not sure of that. He ran around the room, and cut my tank. The glass broke, spilling the liquid and me out. I grabbed the tube, and pulled it out of my throat. I coughed and held by throat the pain of freedom. I lay on the floor, wet just like him from our tanks. I panted just like him. My wings covered my body, protecting me in a way. He stood above me, the blood dripping onto my wings. He looked at me. . . Those eyes. He wasn't just an animal. He was Logan. Logan lived! In his eyes was that kindness I could remember. He stood over me just for a minute, looking down on me, his animal deciding if I was a threat or not. He growled in pain, and looked at me one last time. He then ran away from me.  
  
"Logan!" I cried.  
  
I had never heard my voice before, I wasn't sure even if it was mine. I held my hand out to him, still crawling on the floor. I wanted to help him. To help the man. But he looked back at me, and ran away from me. Further into the darkness, and into freedom. I could hear his screams, echoing throughout the now empty lab.  
  
I couldn't stand, too weak to stand. Too tired. So I crawled. I crawled through his blood. Following it out into the world. Into the snow. I looked around, outside of the lab. It was cold, and snowing. But that was better than anything else. I followed the blood. But it began to fade, and soon it just stopped. Too weak to do anything else. . . I passed out in the snow, just where his blood stopped. My wings covered me in the snow, like a blanket. They probably kept me alive. But Logan saved me. He freed me. He was alive. No Weapon X. Just Logan. Logan was ok. . .  
  
It's been a long time since then. My past just before that is still nothing to me. Logan is my first memory. I don't know what else happened. But I'm still here. It's been almost forty years, yet I haven't age much. They did something. I don't know what, but something. . . They must of put his blood in me or. . . I . . .I can't remember. But I'm still here. And I know Logan is too. He is a man that came back from the dead, forty years and I know he is still out there, somewhere. I hope he's okay. I hope he's better. I hope he's found a home, unlike me. I'm searching for him. I still want to help him. I know his name. I know his real name. . . James. I can help him, can't I? Help him like he helped me?  
  
I stand here, at the night on the top of building in New York. The city shines brightly, and the wind blows my wings. I don't have a name. I was born from the shadows, my memories in the dark. All I can remember is that man. Logan. . .I know he's out there. Alive, still breathing just like me. I carry his blood, and his name. I need to find him. Thank him, help him. The wind blows.  
  
"Thank you, James Howlett. . .Logan. . . Wolverine. Thank you." My voice is carried by the wind.  
  
Somewhere, out there, maybe Logan can hear me. . . Maybe. . .  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
This may continue someday. 


	2. Found You

Searching  
  
She had no name, she only knew the name of another. She stood in the streets of New York. Still searching, never stopping. No time to stop. She had a large trench coat on, hiding her wings. Her pale face stared at the people that walked by, unaware. Not knowing her pain and sorrow. She was close. She knew that. The news, and the papers, all having severe mutant 'attacks' all there, in New York. Logan had to be there.  
  
It had been so long. All throughout the country she had searched. Always hiding in the shadows, looking for a man named Logan. She wanted this all to come to a stop. She had been everywhere else. Her legs ached, and her wings were sore. She was getting wearing of all the traveling she had done for almost forty years.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Logan watched as the sun started to set. He leaned on his new motorcycle, thinking of the one he lost only months ago, Jean. The others had mourned together, but he was of course the lone wolf. No one really knew if he was okay.  
  
"Logan!" Rouge yelled.  
  
He slowly turned, giving her a smile. She ran to him, hugging him. Logan was a little surprised by the hug, but quickly held her too.  
  
"What's the matter, kid?" He asked.  
  
"Logan, don't leave! Not again. . ."  
  
He looked down at the girl he had once picked up off the road. He held her chin up. Rouge had worry in her eyes, she didn't want him to leave, especially after what has happened.  
  
"I'm sorry, kid. I have to this time."  
  
Rouge looked up at him. Then looked away. She knew she couldn't stop him, he never would tell her what happened back at Alkalai Lake. She knew it probably had something to do with that. It had to.  
  
"You'll come back, won't you?" She asked.  
  
"Of course."  
  
"You promise."  
  
Logan couldn't believe she was so scared. She looked back up at him. Rouge knew Logan was always in danger. He had people after him. After the mutant with the metal bones. What if something happened to him? What if he was killed? What if. . .  
  
"I promise." He said.  
  
Rouge looked up at him, all she could do was trust him. So she did.  
  
"Vhat is this? Logan, you are leaving without even saying goodbye?" It was Kurt.  
  
Rouge turned, and Logan looked behind her, Kurt came running to them.  
  
"I don't like goodbyes." Logan replied.  
  
"Yes, but still. You should at least tell a Nightcrawler when you are leaving." Kurt said, reaching them.  
  
"Yeah, elf? Well then, goodbye."  
  
"Vhat vas that? That vas it? Not only do you not like goodbyes, you are no good at them."  
  
Logan slightly laughed. Kurt had really helped him through the passed months, and once the elf stopped being so spiritual, he was pretty funny.  
  
"Goodbye elf." He said.  
  
Logan shook Kurt's two-fingered hand. Then he looked to Rouge. She smiled at him weakly, trying to say she would be all right.  
  
Logan knew it wouldn't be easy to leave again, and then come back. He knew the others didn't really like that. But this time he had to. He had to get away, away from everything and everybody. He just needed to put his head together. Control his memories and his dreams. Stop thinking about the loved he never had. He had to leave.  
  
"See ya later, Rouge." He hugged her.  
  
Back at the entrance to the school, Scott Summers leaned on the door, watching Logan leave. Scott shook his head.  
  
Logan got on his bike, and rode away from the school, not looking back. His search had begun. His search for his past.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The woman with no name now stood on the top of a building. She threw off her cloak off, spread her wings open, and took off over the city of New York. She was like a demon in the sky, casting a shadow in the night.  
  
Flying was a gift.  
  
She soared over the city's lights. The wind blowing her hair. Nothing is more beautiful than an aerial view of a city at night. She smiled. Then flew up right on the side of a building, only inches from the glass windows. She made everyone in the building open their windows, looking at the mutant. She didn't care. Sometimes she just needed to fly.  
  
Then she rose above the building. Seconds she was weightless in the sky. Then she fell.  
  
Falling. Sometimes she just fell. Falling gets the mind away from the pain. Falling takes you somewhere else.  
  
Then she turned, and spread her wings, catching herself just above the ground. She stepped onto the solid ground. The ground never felt right to her. She looked over, and saw people staring at her. Pointing, and hiding their children. She looked away. Flying gets the mind off reality.  
  
She jumped, and flew higher. Away from the staring eyes of people who didn't understand. It was a harsh world. Flying gets you away from that.  
  
She was so close. She knew it. Logan had to be here. She had been everywhere else. All throughout the forests of Canada. Even the shores of California. She was getting tired. But there was always hope of Logan. Something always driving, always kept her moving. She wouldn't stop. She'd never stop. Not until she was sure he was okay.  
  
Sometimes she dreamed about that day she was freed. She would dream of the blood all over again, and the pain. But she would always be reminded of Logan's face as he stood over her, blood all over.  
  
She soon found herself back where she started, she put her cloak back on, and jumped to the solid ground below.  
  
She put her hood over her head and horns, and she started walking in the darkness. Someone on a motorcycle passed by her. She didn't think much of it, as he stopped at a bar. She looked up, and bulled tighter on her cloak. She walked hunched over, and entered the bar.  
  
Smoke filled the air, and it was crowded. She was battered as she made her way to the back of the bar. She sat down at the counter, she wasn't going to drink anything. She would just wait there. Like shelter. She'd wait as long as she could, it's better than outside.  
  
"Want anything?" The bartender asked.  
  
She said nothing, only shook her head. The bartender stared at her for a moment, and whispered to someone. She didn't notice.  
  
And Logan sipped his beer. She turned to the man in the corner, she hadn't even noticed him. She turned her head, as he sipped his beer. She couldn't see his face, it was too dark, and he wore a hat.  
  
Logan turned at the person in a cloak staring at him. He lit a cigar.  
  
"What cha' looking at, kid?" He asked.  
  
Her eyes widened. That face. . . She stepped out of he seat. After so long. . . Logan didn't know what to think of this person in a cloak. He stood up, and she gasped. It was him. So long, so long. . . Searching and never stopping. He was alive! She smiled at him, but he couldn't see.  
  
"What's going on?" Logan asked.  
  
That voice. . . Those eyes. . . The face that haunted her dreams. The man she had searched for, for as long as she could remember. She felt like she couldn't stand. She stepped towards him, her hand out.  
  
"We don't serve your kind here." A man said.  
  
She frowned, and turned. There stood the bartender and two large thugs.  
  
"What do you mean?" She asked quietly.  
  
"We don't serve muties." The bartender said.  
  
"Mutants?"  
  
Logan lowered his hat over his eye, and started to walk out of the way. Trouble was coming. She turned and saw Logan leave.  
  
"I'm not a mutant." She lied, holding her cloak tighter.  
  
"Yeah right."  
  
The man to her right, came over and grabbed her. She struggled to get out, as he took off her hood. Two long, slender, black horns popped out. Silence filled the bar, as people stared. She froze.  
  
"Mutant scum!" The other man yelled, coming to punch her.  
  
Then she did it. She became a shadow. A wave of darkness, was now in that man's arms. And it jumped right out, forming back into her, wings and all. The men turned, and came for her. She lifted her wings, knocking them out of the way. She turned to see Logan looking back, and going out the door. She was going to loose him again. . .  
  
"No. . ." She whispered.  
  
She fell to the floor, and became a shadow. Her world became darkness, as she moved as a shadow. She reformed back to herself outside, to see Logan getting on his motorcycle.  
  
"Logan!" She yelled.  
  
Logan turned.  
  
"Logan!"  
  
He turned back to the girl. He saw her true form. Her wings stood out, her horns pointed up, and claws.  
  
Snikt.  
  
He extended his claws out. He grabbed the girl, and hit her to the wall. He pointed her claws at her face. Never did anyone know his name, without trying to kill him. This girl was just someone else he probably hurt someway in his life. This girl was seeking revenge. No one called to him, without blood coming afterwards.  
  
He held her chest, and pinned her to the wall. She didn't resist, she didn't really move. She couldn't, she had found him. That's all she cared about. Claws were in her face, and she could see her reflection. She stared at them. She saw no traces of blood. . .  
  
"Adamantium. . ." She whispered.  
  
She wrapped her hand around his. She steadies his arm, and stared at the three claws. She did not fear them. She ran her claw down his. She saw no scratches on them, she saw no blood, nothing. She smiled. No blood was good.  
  
Logan stared at this girl. He didn't understand, as she touched him. He didn't understand. . .  
  
Then she looked over at him. Those eyes. His eyes. . . From so long ago. She stared at them, and smiled. She had found him.  
  
"Logan. . ." She said, and fell into his arms.  
  
She had been searching for so long. She had no more strength. Forty years of dreaming, now they had all come true. Logan, the man that gave her a chance at life, the man that she knew his name. She had found him. And she had no words to say to him.  
  
Logan just froze. He still had his claws out, and this girl laid on his shoulder. He didn't know what to do, he was shocked. Then he just pushed her away.  
  
"Hey!" He yelled. "Who are you?!"  
  
His claws went back into his hands.  
  
She only stared at him.  
  
"Who are you!?" He yelled again.  
  
"I. . ." She started.  
  
People busted through the door of the bar. They screamed, angry with the mutant scum. They came up to her, and someone grabbed her. The sounds of their yells, full of hatred. People who'd never understand. . .  
  
Snikt.  
  
"Let go of her, bub."  
  
Everyone turns to Logan. They see only a mutant with claws.  
  
"Another mutie." The man who holds her mumbles.  
  
"Yeah, everyone look at the horrible mutie." Logan spat.  
  
Logan walked over to them. One of them threatened him with a knife. He only stared at it. He got up his claws, flung the knife in the air, and sliced it in three as it fell. Everyone looked down at the knife in pieces. Then at Logan.  
  
"Let her go." He said again.  
  
The man threw her at Logan, and spat. Then they just walked away, back into the bar.  
  
"You okay, kid?" He helped her up.  
  
"Logan." She mumbled.  
  
"Now you answer me. Who the hell are you?" He demanded.  
  
"I. . ."  
  
She stared hunched down at him. She lowered her wings and horns. She couldn't speak. She found no words to say to him.  
  
"I. . . I don't know." She finally said.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Weapon X." She said.  
  
Logan stopped. Long ago he was given this Adamantium skeleton. The government took him away, and wiped his memory. They gave him these claws, and took away his life. He was made to be the perfect weapon. He was Weapon X.  
  
He stepped back from the girl. He didn't look at her anymore. Those words brought back pain, and broken memories. Weapon X. Where Stryker had taken them, and where Jean Grey sacrificed herself.  
  
Logan felt the girl put her arms around him. He didn't fight it. She wrapped her wings around him too. She saw the pain. She remembered the blood. She wanted to comfort him.  
  
"I was there, Logan. I saw it all. . ." She said.  
  
Logan's eyes widened, and he stepped back from the her grasp. He stared at her. She was there, just like him. . . Someone who knew his pain. . .  
  
She stood there, staring at him. Wanting to help, but finding no words or strength to.  
  
Then there were sirens. . .  
  
She turned to see police cars, and read and blue lights shine through the darkness.  
  
"Dammit. Damn people! They must of called the cops!" Logan yelled. "Come on."  
  
He pushed her to his bike.  
  
"Where are we going?" She asked.  
  
"I don't know."  
  
He got on, and she sat behind him. They drove off.  
  
"I can't believe I found you." She whispered.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Next Chapter: Who We Are  
  
James Howlett is Logan's real name. Everything I say in this story will be based on the truth of Wolverine. I know because his past from childhood to adult is revealed in a wonderful comic book mini series, called "Origin."  
  
It's a very sad tale, and I will reveal it. 


	3. Who We Are

Who We Are  
  
"Now tell me who the hell you are!"  
  
Outside the city, far from the lights and the humans, Logan stood above the girl. She couldn't help smile. They were in the forest, the trees stood above them, hiding the night sky.  
  
She didn't answer as she studied him. Those beautiful eyes. He hadn't aged in all these years. And as she took a step closer, Logan pushed her down, right now he only needed answers.  
  
"Tell me!"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
Logan stared at her.  
  
"I don't know, Logan. I don't know just like you." She said.  
  
Logan turned his head, and walked away.  
  
Memories gone and broken. The life he once had now long lost. He didn't need to be reminded what they did to him. What they took.  
  
"How do you know me then? I can barely remember that lab." He said, not looking at her.  
  
"They didn't do much to me, it was. . . You were their main experiment." She said.  
  
He was walking away from her, leaving her again. She knew this hurt, she knew it would always hurt. What they had done to him would never leave him. But she couldn't let him leave her again.  
  
Logan felt her wings wrap around him.  
  
"I had to watch what they did to you." She said. "I had to watch them kill you."  
  
"What did they do to you?"  
  
She paused.  
  
"I think they put your blood in me." She said.  
  
Logan froze. He knew they were others like him. He knew, but. . .  
  
He stepped out of her wings, and walked away.  
  
"So what do you want with me?" He asked, still not looking at her.  
  
"I. . .I wanted to thank you." She said.  
  
"For what?"  
  
"You saved me."  
  
"Maybe I did, but I don't remember."  
  
She stood there, his back turned to her. She wanted to help, she wanted to help him, but he wouldn't let her. She wanted to scream, tell him everything. She wanted to say his name, but she knew he wouldn't listen.  
  
"Is that it? You wanted to thank me? That's all?" Logan said.  
  
"I. . .You were all I could remember, all I knew. I had to. . ."  
  
All those years she wanted to help him.  
  
"They turned you into an animal." She said.  
  
Logan didn't say anything for a moment.  
  
"Yeah, they did."  
  
She walked next to him.  
  
"I'm sorry." She said.  
  
"I come here once a year. I escape the rest of the world, remind myself."  
  
"Remind yourself of what?"  
  
"Of when I was an animal, and how far I've come."  
  
"You don't want to forget."  
  
"No, I don't."  
  
Logan looked into the forest. There was something inside him, something they created. The animal inside that he couldn't contain all the time. He released the animal when he came here, and he ran through the forests. He was an animal. But he was also Logan. He cannot forget that. He cannot forget himself again.  
  
"All my life, I tried not to forget you." She said.  
  
"You're trying to remember someone you didn't even know." Logan said.  
  
"Then tell me who you are."  
  
Logan looked at this girl, this girl with wings. She said he had saved her, but he didn't. He didn't remember, he didn't want to remember. She was saying he saved her, when he didn't. That wasn't him long ago.  
  
But she wasn't going to leave, he knew that. If she had spent all this time looking for him, she wouldn't leave. And he didn't know what to do with her.  
  
"Ever heard of the X-men?" He said.  
  
"X-men?"  
  
"They're a group of Mutants that fight for mutant rights. There this school just for mutant kids."  
  
"That sounds like a nice place."  
  
"That's where I live."  
  
"You do!?"  
  
She was so happy. He had come along so much. He wasn't an animal, he wasn't alone! She smiled at him. He had a life, they didn't kill him. He had healed, he had made a life for himself. He was okay.  
  
"Yeah. I left today." Logan said.  
  
"Why!?"  
  
Why would he leave all that.  
  
"Because I wanna know." Logan said, and she understood.  
  
Then she sat on the ground, and still looked at him.  
  
"And how about you?" Logan asked.  
  
"I. . . I don't have a life. I don't have a name." She said.  
  
"That must be great." Logan turned.  
  
"I've looking for you. That's all."  
  
He didn't understand her. He didn't understand how someone would look for him for so long. How he would look for his life, and she wouldn't.  
  
"Don't you wanna know about your life?" He asked her.  
  
She stared at him for a moment.  
  
"No. No I don't." She said.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I'm scared."  
  
He stared at her.  
  
"Don't you wanna know who did this to you?" He asked again.  
  
"No."  
  
That was her old life, a life she left behind. A life he saved her from. If she had any life before that tank and lab, she didn't want to know about it. If it was horrible enough to be kidnapped and put in a tank, and no one to care then she didn't want to know about it.  
  
"You just wanted to find me."  
  
"Yes."  
  
Logan couldn't believe this, but he was all this girl had. All she knew, all she wanted. But he couldn't even remember. He made such an impact on her, for her to search for him for years, and he couldn't even remember it. This person she spoke of, the man that saved her, he didn't know.  
  
"I killed him." He said.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I killed the man that did this to us."  
  
"You did?"  
  
William was dead.  
  
"But he didn't give me any answers. He wouldn't tell me anything." Logan said.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"Did you ever feel like your head was going to explode this past year, and then the President went on TV?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"That's what happened."  
  
"I don't understand."  
  
"They kidnapped someone, a mutant, and used his powers to almost kill everyone."  
  
"Oh, my god."  
  
"I came face to face with that man, and he didn't tell me anything. Nothing!"  
  
He screamed, and turned his back on her again. She closed her eyes, and got up. She walked to him, and stood next to him.  
  
"That's who we are, Logan." She said.  
  
She grabbed his hand, and rubbed it. Then she got her claw, and cut his hand, and then hers She showed him, hers healed like his.  
  
"We were taken, and changed. Tortured. And now we don't know anything about ourselves. We're mutants. Survivors of Weapon X." She said.  
  
She knew it hurt. She knew it would always hurt. But that is who they were.  
  
Logan stared at her for a moment. She loved his eyes, and saw the remnants of that animal in him.  
  
"Logan, I have something I need to tell you. . ." She said.  
  
She had to tell him his name, tell him of his life before. The life she knew he had, unlike her. Than maybe. . . Maybe he would be okay, maybe the animal would go away. Maybe he wouldn't hurt anymore.  
  
Then he heard something.  
  
"Get down!" He yelled, and pushed her.  
  
Then someone in black jumped from the words, claws on their fingers, and slashed at Logan. Logan got his claws out, and blocked this person's attack. Then he was kicked in the face.  
  
"Yes, that's who you are! Weapon X property!" The person yelled.  
  
Then the person stopped. And took off the mask that hid the person's face.  
  
"No." Logan said.  
  
Death Strike.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Next Chapter: Alive and Well 


	4. Alive and Well

Alive And Well  
  
"You!" Logan cried.  
  
Deathstrike laughed, as she stretched her arms.  
  
"Yes...That's right." She smiled.  
  
"That's impossible!" Logan pointed his claws at her. "I killed you!"  
  
"Exactly, you'd never thought I'd come back to haunt you, right Wolverine? How could you even think that!?"  
  
Deathstrike jumped, trying to land on Logan, he stopped her and pushed her to his right.  
  
"I don't understand!" Logan blocked another one of her attacks.  
  
"The story of your life!" Deathstrike taunted.  
  
She stabbed her fingernails into his side. He twitched his eye in pain, not even screaming, he knew this pain well. He stabbed her in the shoulder, and she flipped out of his claws, kicking him in the chin. He stepped back, while she kicked him again, and stabbed him again.  
  
"Logan..." The girl with no name whispered.  
  
Deathstrike ran her adamantium claws down his arms, cutting the clothing, revealing the blood. Then the bleeding stopped. Logan slashed towards Deathstrike, but she only dodged, stabbing him again and again.  
  
She was stronger than before.  
  
Deathstrike stabbed all her claws into Logan's sides, and held him there. Even he had to scream in pain.  
  
"How..?" He whispered.  
  
Deathstrike smiled.  
  
"I had to come back for you, Wolverine. You killed me, and left me there, sinking in that lake..."  
  
She started pushing her claws in deeper.  
  
"But you couldn't do it. You couldn't kill me fully. My body is gone Logan. I'm all that's left. I had to kill you. I had to."  
  
"Why..?" He asked.  
  
"Why!?" She screamed in anger. "You killed everything I had, you destroyed my life!"  
  
"They took it from you! Weapon X took it from you!" Logan tried to explain.  
  
"Lies! Weapon X saved me!"  
  
"What?"  
  
She spread her nails inside his wounds.  
  
"They found me, and gave me a greater power than before. You see me, this isn't me. They gave me a new body...I'm cyborg now, Wolverine, and somehow I knew it would be enough to kill you..."  
  
She pushed him to the ground, and he grabbed his side.  
  
"They brainwashed you! They made you try to kill me!" Logan cried.  
  
Deathstrike kicked him.  
  
"More lies! You did that! You took my life away and they gave it back. You took my memories, and they gave them back!" She screamed.  
  
They lied to her. The remaining Weapon X project found her in the broken damn of Alkali lake, and found that she was too valuable to just cast away. They fixed her, made her something greater, and lied to her for her cooperation.  
  
"My revenge has come..." Deathstike said slowly.  
  
She bent down, and put her claws to the side of his head.  
  
And she smiled.  
  
"No!" The one with no name scremed.  
  
She jumped on Deathstrike and pushed her aside. She was going to protect Logan. She panted as Deathstrike got up.  
  
"You! You're alive! Weapon X has told me much about you." Deathstrike said.  
  
The one with no name said nothing. She simple spread her wings apart, and flapped, hitting Deathstrike. She kicked Deathstrike, and scratched her with her own claws. Deathstrike tried stabbing her, but her body went black, and she became a Shadow on the floor, appearing behind Deathstrike, and kicking her.  
  
Deathstrike flipped, and stabbed at her again, but she only became a Shadow on the trees. She appeared grabbing Deathstrike with her wings, but Deathstrike stabbed at them, getting herself out of her grasp. Deathstrike looked back to see the damaged she caused. But the wings that shedded blood, were healing.  
  
"You still have his blood in you." Deathstrike accused.  
  
The mutant with no name, only smiled at Deathstrik, taunting her.  
  
Yes it did hurt. She had no name, and no one had ever come after her. She had never battled before, she was an experimented that was never tested. She didn't know how to fight, she didn't know the pain of getting stabbed. She couldn't take it like Logan. It was the worst pain she'd ever felt, besides those days in the lab, her thin, fine wings stabbed with holes. But she felt it heal, and know she wouldn't die here. So she hid the pain, and smiled.  
  
Then Deathstrike, the new cyborg Deathstrike, stabbed at her with such speed, the one with no name couldn't see it. Then she saw Deathstrike's claws in her stomach, and the blood dripping. She stared at it, waiting for the pain to come.  
  
Then she screamed from it.  
  
Her body became darkness, a shadow melting away from Deathstrike's claws, and she fell to the ground, waiting for the wound to heal.  
  
Snikt  
  
Wolverine, Logan, jumped stabbing Deathstrike in the shoulder, and back. He pushed her to the ground, and watched as the girl with no name slowly got up. Before Deathstrike stood, Logan put his claws to her face.  
  
He would've killed her, take her out of her misery again.  
  
But a light began to shine from the sky, and a helicopter came into place. Logan looked up, and heard guns fired at him.  
  
Weapon X personal.  
  
He put his claws away, and helped the one with no name get up.  
  
"Come on." He told her.  
  
But she looked down at her stomach, five small holes through her clothing, drying blood on her hands. But the blood was gone. Sure she had healed with Logan's blood from small cuts and scrapes, but never a stab. Never...did... She didn't know what to think, she only stared at the former wound in awe.  
  
"Come on!" He grabbed her, and rushed her to his bike.  
  
Then off into the forest they ran.  
  
Deathstrike didn't follow them, and watched as her prey ran away. She wiped her mouth, and looked up to wait for the helicopter.  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Drink your coffee." He said.  
  
"Huh?" She looked up innocently.  
  
He pushed the cup of coffee closer to her. She grabbed it gently, careful not to break it with her claws.  
  
Her horns hidden in her hair, and wings in her heavy cloak. He stared at her, studying her.  
  
It was morning now, and they found themselves in a small town just beyond New York, Logan didn't bother to notice its name. She looked out the window, dazed from las night.  
  
"Who was that?" She asked.  
  
"Deathstrike. Another Weapon X experiment." He explained.  
  
"You've met before?"  
  
"Yeah...Back when I killed Stryker...He had her as a brainwashed protector."  
  
"Oh." She looked down, her mind was somewhere else. "Thankyou for the coffee."  
  
She didn't want his life to be like this. She didn't want Weapon X after him, she never wanted that. She didn't want him captured to become an animal again...But she didn't know how she could help.  
  
Logan stared at her. He wondered so much about her. Why fight for him? Why look for him for all these years? Just for a thankyou? Then why didn't she leave now? But he knew he was all she knew. She didn't even have a name, not to be bothered with such things. It was strange. Then Logan wondered why he hadn't made her leave him alone.  
  
"Listen. It's not safe with me. You saw, those people are after me. I could take you to my home, they'll take care of you there." Logan said quickly.  
  
She stared at him surprised.  
  
"But I...I want to be with you." She said softly.  
  
"But, you don't understand..."  
  
"Logan, I want to help you find your past...I want to help you."  
  
"Why? Just cause I saved your life so long ago doesn't mean I can save you again." Logan argued.  
  
"Yes, but..." She couldn't come up with anything. "Please Logan, I can keep you company, I can help you!"  
  
Logan stayed silent.  
  
"What happened at Alkali lake anyway?" She asked.  
  
Logan's hand twitched, almost spilling his coffee, and he thought of Jean.  
  
"Nothing." He said, looking away.  
  
She saw that twitched, and lowered her head, not wanting to talk about it more.  
  
She knew being with him would be dangerous. But she didn't care. All her life revolved about this one man. What choice did she have? She would go with him, search with him, and fight with him. He would have to teach her how to fight.  
  
"Where are we going now?" She asked.  
  
"I don't know...I thought we could go back to Alkali lake."  
  
Logan thought that would be a good place to start.  
  
"Oh." She said again.  
  
She thought about telling him there. Say his name, don't even say it was his, just call him James Howlett. But she looked over at the smoking chef, and waitress, and back at her coffee. She would wait.  
  
But she had to tell him.  
  
"Listen kid, you need a name." Logan said.  
  
"Huh?" She looked up. "Oh, well...I haven't really thougth about a name." She said.  
  
"Well, what names do you like?"  
  
"I don't know...Alex, Sandra...Sonia...Jean..."  
  
Logan's hand twitched again.  
  
"But I don't want those names...Those aren't my names." She explained.  
  
Logan stared at her. Such an innocence. Pale skin, dark hair, brown eyes, and black wings. She never disereved to be a Weapon X experiment. But neither did he.  
  
Then he figured something out.  
  
"How about Amaya?" He asked.  
  
"Huh? Amaya?" She asked, taking a sip of her coffee.  
  
"It means 'night rain' in Japanease." He explained.  
  
"What do you know about Japan?"  
  
"Oh, a couple things."  
  
Amaya, night rain. She liked the rain, she liked flying in it. Every little drop, massaging her wings. Night rain. The stars that shine at night, the sky as dark as her wings.  
  
Amaya.  
  
"Amaya... I like it. I love it."  
  
She smiled at the man who gave her a life, and a name.  
  
Amaya, her name was Amaya. Night rain. Amaya the mutant, Amaya the one saved by James Howlett from Weapon X. Amaya, the mutant gifted with wings. The dark angel. Amaya, teller of names. Her name was Amaya.  
  
"Well, come on Amaya, let's go."  
  
He got up, and gave the money to the watress. Amaya running behind him. She followed him closey out the door to his bike. Then she stood there, and watched him.  
  
"Come on." He said.  
  
She walked over to him, and placed her hands on his shoulders.  
  
"Okay, James." She said.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Next Chapter: The Story  
  
Just a tip, Logan was a samurai in his life. He loved a woman named Yoko, but she was killed by a near by village, and he set out to avenge her. Memories of that life are gone as well as everything else. 


End file.
